Talia laughed. "Oh please. If I change into a different woman, it would be because you did something that passed me off, like guzzling a two-liter bottle and then putting it back in the fridge."
Cedric gave her a puzzled look. What in the world was she talking about?
"Never mind." She popped a chicken nugget into her mouth. "I was just joking. I'm sure you don't even like soda pops."
He gave her a steady gaze. Talia was not taking what he said seriously. This was new to him because he was used to being taken very seriously and literally.
He was about to impress upon her the seriousness of the situation, but looking at her, laughing and being light-hearted with Devin, he could not spoil her cheerful mood.
The only thing he could do at this moment was to maintain a vigilant eye on her, in case something happened that she could not deal with.
"Where's your brother?" Talia turned back to him with a casual glance. It wasn't that she was particularly interested in knowing his whereabouts, she just hadn't seen the man all day long.
"He's a few cars ahead of us, entertaining Countess Evelyn on the journey back to Faria."
Talia gave a sour look. "Oh, your fiancée is coming along also?"
Cedric turned away with a lidded gaze trying to hide his disgust.
"We gave her a ride back. She also lives in Faria."
Talia nodded as she handed a bottle of milk to Devin.
"I'm not quite understanding something." She shot a suspicious look at Cedric.
"If she's your fiancée, why are you here with me? Shouldn't you be the one to entertain her?"
Cedric said nothing for a moment, but then he snarled.
"Don't forget. You are my mate. We are supposed to be together."
Talia waved a hand in protest.
"So what is your fiancée, chopped liver?"
Cedric shook his head. "Do not concern yourself with that woman. She is not my mate. You are."
"Why, because you bit me?" Talia raised an eyebrow.
"Do you make it a habit to bite all the women you sleep with? Did you bite Countess Evelyn too?" She asked saucily.
For a moment, anger flared in Cedric's eyes. The first woman he had ever marked and she was doubting his sincerity?
But then Cedric threw back his head and laughed. He truly couldn't blame her.
It had to be very confusing from her point of view. The little minx was jealous and confused about why Evelyn was still his fiancée even though he had claimed Talia with a mark.
He had to say something to reassure her.
"I have never marked a woman before. You are the first."
He shook his head. "Do not worry about Evelyn. You are my marked mate. You come first in all considerations."
"That's not what I mean." She rolled her eyes with incredulity. "I'm saying, if she's your fiancée, what are you doing here with me?"
Cedric sighed. "I'm here with you because you are my life mate. You agreed to the mark and I gave it to you. It's too late to retract so you might as well get used to me."
Talia scratched her head with a frustrated hand.
"You don't understand, Cedric. Since she's still your fiancée, if she knows you're here with me instead of there with her, she is going to keep going after me for encroaching in on her man."
"Why would she do that? You have my mark." Cedric insisted, as if that was the be-all and end-all of the conversation.
"That's not going to stop her from coming at me and telling me to lay off her man. She's your fiancée. I'm just some woman who got bitten. What am I supposed to say to her?" She stood up and walked back and forth.
"Show me your bite mark, Evelyn. Come on." She began play acting as if Evelyn was in the room with them.
"Here's mine." She pulled back her soft collar to expose his bite mark on her shoulder, and then acted surprised.
"What? You don't have one? Whoops. Sorry! He bit me, so I guess I'm the legit one." She rolled her eyes and looked at him.
"Do you know that if I said that to anyone, they would think I was mental?"
Cedric shook his head. This woman actually thought being a paper fiancée was more significant than being marked as a life mate.
But of course she did not understand the difference. She was not a werewolf. At least not yet.
It didn't matter though. Evelyn knew the significance of a marked mate. There would be no need to go into long diatribes.
Furthermore, once the entire kingdom knew that he had marked his Talia, there would be no question who his spouse was. It was time to end this useless debate.
"Talia. We are about to leave your world within the hour. If you are finished with dinner, I will have the maids clear the dishes and we can settle in for the night."
She nodded. "I'm done. I'll go get Devin cleaned up and get him ready for bed."
The train car was a fairly long one with a fully appointed luxurious bathroom on one end and a queen bed shoved up against the opposite wall. In the middle, there was a seating area with a small couch and a couple of chairs.
By the time she and Devin were done in the bathroom and dressed in pajamas, the maids had pulled the sleeper out from the sofa and made the bed with fresh linens and a soft white comforter.
She carried Devin on her hip and walked over to the queen bed at the far end.
"Hmmm. That sofa looks a bit short."
Cedric shook his head. "It's made to fit an adult. It's plenty big."
She turned and began sizing him up.
"You've got to be at least 6'2". You're never going to fit on that bed."
Cedric shook his head. "It's not for me."
Talia blinked. "I guess it's for me then." She headed back towards the sofa bed.
Cedric gave a gentle laugh. "It's not for you either. It's for him."
Talia bit her lip. That meant she would be sharing the bed with Cedric since it didn't look as if he was going to be sleeping on the floor.
Seeing her thoughts flash across her face, Cedric sighed. She was still holding his fiancée as a barrier between them.
It seemed he needed to do something that was more concrete to show her that she was the one he had chosen and not any other woman.
Devin was starting to yawn and get a little cranky so she took him to the sofa sleeper and tucked him in. The train's rhythmic clickety-clack over the dull roar was very effective in lulling him to sleep.
Within five minutes, Devin was fast asleep.
Talia was still sitting there, wondering if she should just scramble under the covers and sleep with him when she felt herself being picked up by a pair of strong arms.
"Let's leave him to sleep in peace and get some rest ourselves, shall we?"